Pathways to Purpose

Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Legacy Today

Join the Institute for Leadership and Service for Pathways to Purpose with Dr. Reggie L. Williams, a leading Bonhoeffer scholar and author of Bonhoeffer’s Black Jesus. Through a film screening, panel discussion, and lecture, this series reflects on Bonhoeffer’s theological courage, ethical convictions, and their relevance in today’s world.

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Students can get VUE credit for attending this event through MyValpo.

The Institute for Leadership and Service is dedicated to preparing students for lives of leadership and service—lives shaped by a sense of calling, equipped for thoughtful reflection, engaged in the larger world, and responsive to its deepest challenges.

Reggie L. Williams on Dietrich Bonhoeffer

2024 Bonhoeffer Movie Screening – April 2 @ 7:00 p.m.
Film Discussion – April 6 @ 7 p.m.
Bonhoeffer’s Relevance Today – April 7 @ 10:45 a.m.

All events in the Helge Center Multipurpose Room

Please join the Institute for Leadership and Service for a series of events on the life and legacy of Dietrich Bonhoeffer–German Lutheran pastor, theologian, and author of classic texts such as Life Together, The Cost of Discipleship, and Letters and Papers from Prison.

Dr. Reggie L. Williams, acclaimed Bonhoeffer scholar and Associate Professor of Theological Studies at St. Louis University, has long studied the profound influence of black theology and Bonhoeffer’s time in Harlem on his understanding of Christian ethics and political engagement. The author of the book Bonhoeffer’s Black Jesus, Dr. Williams was consulted for the 2024 film about Bonhoeffer’s life and opposition to the Nazi regime.

Dr. Williams will be on campus to discuss this recent film as well as the relevance of Bonhoeffer’s legacy today–a legacy especially resonant as we celebrate Valpo’s Lutheran Centennial this year.Williams writes: “This is where I connect with Bonhoeffer: in his impulse to dislodge Christianity from sources that make the faith indistinguishable from harmful ideologies and practices. I approach the study of Bonhoeffer constructively, through the lenses of the Black church and Black theology, a tradition of the Christian faith that he found deeply inspirational while he was in New York. He was inspired by the lack of compartmentalization that he saw in Black Christianity, that it places one’s whole being under the gospel—with no space for the separation of faith and politics or of public and private life. Additionally, he was impressed by Black Christians’ ability to disentangle Jesus from historically lethal forces that appropriate him as an avatar for devious and harmful purposes.” https://www.christiancentury.org/features/tropes-birth-hero

We hope you’ll join us this week for any or all of the following events! (All events take place in the Helge Center Multipurpose Room.)